Sedona Camp Out!

Durtgurl planned a most excellent camp out in Sedona at Chavez Campground this weekend.

I missed Saturdays ride, cuz I ended up kayaking nearby on the Verde River with the Flagstaff River Rats.

I pulled into Chavez Campground around 7:00 pm after chowing down on a most excellent Colorado beef burrito at El Patio in Mcguireville. I had a few beers and conked out, only to dream about the super awesome Sedona trails.

The camp out group was rather large, but those interested in pedaling on Sunday was pretty small. Nuckies, NMBikeWidow (both from New Mexico), BrianC and myself split from camp a little after 10:00 am for a nice little 3 hour tour of some very fun trails.

Our route consisted of Broken Arrow (to chicken point), Little Horse, Llama, Bell Rock Pathway, Made in the Shade, Slim Shady and Templeton. We did about 13 or 14 miles at a social pace that included about 2K vf of climbing.

Here is a video of the day:

Sedona AZSF

The annual MTBR Arizona Spring Fling nearly passed me by this year, but I did get one ride in and it was suh-weet.

It was a repeat of last years ride, except I had my big bike and I had fresh legs. There is no way I could've pedaled that bike without fresh legs.

Any cow, there was 12 of us on our ride and a few other MTBR groups out on the trail (The video says we had a eleven, but I accidentally left Gary off my list).

Here is a vid of the day:

Lemmon Drop Jr. - Tucson, AZ

Did a little Lemmon Drop, down in Tucson, and it pretty much rule.

You aren't supposta be tired when you shuttle up about 5,000 vf, but dang it I was. I does make sense though, when you through another couple thousand feet of climbing...

Da DooDooboi, Adam and I split from my place in PHX at 7:00, and we met up with Helimech at Le Buzz (coffee shop at the base of the Catalina Mountains) at 9:00. An hour later, we had shuttle up to the Green Mountain trailhead.

The 6 hour gnar bash took us down, Greenie, Bug Spring and La Millagrosa.

No real mechanicals, utter than the clamp on my seat post is toast (rotating freely), and Adam's flat tire. I also banged my knee for the third time this week on my shifter. Ow, that freaking smarts.

Anycow, here is a Vid of the day:

Epic Local Adventure Day (MTB and Kayak)

I pulled off another little daily double adventure day today.

It start off with techy riding on National. This was the first time I've been on Natty in about 2 months, and my fitness showed. I was able to get some pretty hardhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif moves on the climb up, so I actually surprised myself.

The descent from the pass pretty much ruled, thus wrapping up my 2 hour ride.

For adventure number two, I was a little curious to see how the flow on the Lower Salt is, since the turned the faucet on this week. I was out there last weekend doing a little organized river clean up, and the flow was literally about 5 CFS. Todays for was about 6 hundy CFS.

I dropped my bike at Phon D. Sutton Rec Area at 1:00, and then I drove up to Water User Rec Area to start my float. I was on the water at 1:30.

I was actually rather surprised how much volume 600 CFS is. The left side of the island was a little boney, but it was all good. The river at this level more fun, cuz there are a few more bumps to hit. There were a few other lean for water areas, but I only really hit bottom at Coon Bluffs, and that was just cuz I wasn't paying attention to where the channel was.

I counted 21 horses, and 3 bald eagles. Boy, there are some really big fish in there (suckers, I think).

Anycow, my 10 (or so) mile paddle took 2.5 hours. Then the 7.7 mile pedal back up to my car, took under 30 minutes. I had the kayak on the roof of my car by 5:00

Another Daily Double - Mountain Biking and Skiing

Inspiration hit, as Chollaball mentioned, for Christmas Eve, he was heading down to Tuscon to pedal.

I thought to myself, heck I wanna ride down in Tuscon, but I also wanna ski. But wait, Ski Valley, the dinky resort at the top of Mt. Lemmon was up and running. A plan formulated that I would ride the lower trails in the Catalina Mountains (the trails not covered in snow), and then following the ride, I could head up to Ski Valley for an afternoon session of skiing. So I posted up a Tuscon MTB, that I wanted to find somebody who wanted to do a quick shuttle run on La Milagrosa. Luck would have it, Miracle (Chris) replied that he was in. Stoke was high, and I knew my plan would now come to fruition.

I met up with Chris at Le Buzz at 8:00. We then dropped my car off at the end of the Millie, and then we took his truck up to Prison Camp. We hit the trail at about 8:45 and man was it cold, but I had the perfect amount of layers for the whole ride. I didn't freeze in the shadows and didn't roast by the we time we finished up at 11:15. We the shuttled back up to his truck, and the lap was completed in 3 hours. Just as planned.

From there I head up the highway to Mt. Lemmon, got my ski boots on and grabbed my skis, and paid for my lift ticket just as they were discounting them at 12:30 (afternoon skiing is 32 clams).

The mountain biking was pure awesomness, and the skiing conditions were ...


...well, just okay, but hey it was still a day on the slopes (day 5 for the season).

Here's a Vid of the Day:

Picketpost/AZ Trail 11/26/11

Ugh, that was a beatdown yestaday, and I am in pretty sorry pedaling shape.

I planned on bailing early, but the trail and scenery just got better and better. I survived on the fruits and vegetables I ate for breakfast, one apple (plus a slice of apple - compliments of Dag Nabbit) one stale package of cliff blox, one gu, a handful of scooby snakes, and two handfuls of peanuts. Oh yeah, that I and shorted my camelbak bladder out of a good 30 oz, cuz there aint no way I drank 100. I actually had to crack open my 5 oz safety reserve bottle. No real cramps, but my quads were really tight.

Utter than that it was an ahsum day on the trail. Good company. Outside of Sedona, I think the portion of AZ trail we pedaled was the probably the most scenic trail I've been on.

Thanks everybody for letting me shove the camera in your face.

A day at Sunrise Lift Area for some DH

I was feeling more inspired to ride than shoot video, but I did get a few clips. Nothing special.

Man, did it rain. I've been sweating the heat and wishing for rain all summer, and I got more than I wanted in relief. A 12:00 thunderstorm rolled through Sunrise, and we got completely soaked. The put a lightening hold on the lift for about 45 minutes.

Once they started the lift back up, cold and wet, we froze at the top. Then about an hour later, we go another storm. At that point I was super muddy on top of being cold and wet, so I called it a day at about 2:45. 6 runs in, but I certainly didn't ride very aggresively. Good bye Sunrise DH riding for another season. Booo!

Thanks to Gnar Gnar Tours for organizing the trip up and back.

Here's a littl vid of the day:

Jerry-on-Moe Trail - South Mountain - Phoenix, AZ 8/7/11

Yep, I'm still alive.

Sorry for the lack of updates, but July has been a very busy month.

Here is fun video of a group ride at South Mountain:

Sunrise Lift Area w/ GnarGnar Tours

Today, I rolled on up to Sunrise Park Resort with Gnar Gnar Tours.


It was super nice not having to do the long drive up there, and it was certainly worth the 50 clams. This was opening weekend for lift area downhill riding, and it was also good to know that the lift tix were still only 20 bucks.

We split from Cactus Bikes in Ahwatukee at about 6:15 and we rolled into the lot at Sunrise at 10:45, so certainly took longer than driving up in a car, but it still pretty much ruled that I didn't haveta drive. Actually, this is the first time up to Sunrise when I wasn't the driver.

The stoke was high being here and knowing all the trails I wanted to ride were open. Things were a little dusty, but the high winds (even though we were on the leeward side) actually kept the dust from getting in my eyes when I was following somebody closely.

No major crashes for me or anybody I was rolling with. Woot!

One highlight was seeing a newborn elk that was yelping for its momma near the top of the lift. Hopefully the elk was reunited with momma???

Thanks GnarGnar Tours for the most excellent day.

Here is a little vid of the day:

Mine Drop - South Mountain: Phoenix, AZ

Chongoman lined up an ahsum loop today, which consisted of parking at the SoMo Enviro Education lot, pedaling up Ranger, traversing west on National, and then a really fun rip done Mine Trail and then rolled Gila Trail to San Juan Rd/Central to complete the loop.

We met up at 6:30 under sunny but warming temperatures. By the time we finished at 10:30 it was 90 degrees. Warm weather riding is here.

Anycow Stumpy29er, KennyB, Aaron,Durtgurl, ScottN, Cenobite joined in on this 12.5 mile loop. Pfft, 12.5 miles? The were pretty hard miles with about 2,500 vf of climbing.

At the bottom of Gila Trail, we took a peak into the Mine shafts.

Here is a vid of they day:


And here is a Google Earth Tour of the route:

AZSF (Arizona Spring Fling) - Highline and High on the Hog in Sedona

Day four of AZSF (Arizona Spring Fling) - Highline and High on the Hog in Sedona.
After crushing down some pretty hard chunk, today was all about slicing up some nice red slick rawk in Sedona.

I met up with Tim and Gary over at Durtgurls house at 6:30 am and we carpooled up to Sedona, where we met up with the other flingers at the IGA Supermarket.

We had a pretty big group, the plan was to ride Highline and High on the Hog. I brought my little bike today, which my legs thanked me for. The pedal up Highline was super easy thanks to pedaling a bike that weighs 9 lbs lighter than my utter one.
Coming down was pretty dang fun on it to, but obviously I dialed back the aggressiveness a bunch because the tires were skinnier (less sticky) and not enough burly travel.

Both trails were in primo condition and the temps were perfect for riding. A little breezy up there though.

Our five hour tour was led by Zul and a couple other locals who are outstanding riders. Local knowledge is good to know. The best part of the ride was heading back around the eastside High on the Hog back to Chicken Point instead of heading west around the housing development.

Here is a vid of the day:

AZSF (Arizona Spring Fling) - National/Holbert on South Mountain

Day three of AZSF (Arizona Spring Fling) - National/Holbert on South Mountain.
Today was another gnarlicious beatdown on Somo, as the Flingers met up the Pima Canyon Lot at 9:00 to go pedal some of the best South Mountain has to offer.

I hung with Maadjuergers group, but I had no real intention of doing portions of his ride, one because I new my legs would be tired from the days before, two I wanted to have fun in Sedona the next day. I think it is safe to say that I was easily on the heaviest bike, so I was going no where fast.

The group today consisted of Tor-y-Fol from the U.K., Chuckie33 from Mississippi, Marky-mark-and-the-funky-lunch from Chicago, CTuttle from Moab, Maad, Dgangi, Theorem all from PHX and myself.

Basically the route I did was up National and down Holbert, back up the road and return via National. A few utter crazies threw a few more punishing miles in there.


Here is a vid of the day:

Bug Spring & La Milagrosa (Tuscon, AZ) AZSF 3/17/11

AZSF (Arizona Spring Fling) Day Two – Bug Spring/La Milagrosa (Tucson)
Tor-y-Fol from the U.K. rolled on over to my house about 6:30 am, and we loaded up the bikes into my car for a two hour drive down to Tucson.

From there we met up with the other AZ Flingers (Ben-Jamin from Minnesota, Chuckie33 from Mississippi, Magro from PHX, Mad Max from Tucson, Steve from Tucson, Evil Patrick from Tucson and a few utter riders) at the usual meetup spot: Le Buzz.
We dropped off a couple cars at the usual spot at the bottom of Millie (Off of Snyder Rd - Corner of De Suzenu/Horsehead Rd.) and then we shuttled up to the top of Bug Spring trailhead.

I think we started the hike-a-bike out of the parking lot at 10:00.

I rolled this trail a month earlier, and there were patches of snow then, but none now. It was kinda warm out, but the breeze kept us from over heating.
We weren’t riding terribly fast, but the stops were short, so we made it to Prison Camp in about 1.5 hours. Bugs trail rawks.

Mad Max stashed some much necessary water at the beginning of Millie, so we filled our camelbaks, and we were off again to slay some gnar.

On the hike-a-bike up to the saddle on Millie, I dropped my sunglasses and since nobody behind me saw them on the trail, I figured it was fruitless to go back down to find ‘em. That meant heading down the trail with no eye protection. Oddly enough about 5 miles down Tor-y-Fol found a pair of cheap/nasty sunglasses that just so happened to colored silver, just like the ones I lost. (I ended up using there glasses all weekend.)

I had a little elbow dab on the ‘waterfall’, as I opted for the easy line to the left. No style points, but I got down without much thrashing.
The rest of the trail was a dream, but I was sufficiently fatigued when we got back to the car at the bottom around 3:00.

Here is a little vid of the day:


And here is an interactive Google Earth Tour of Bugs/Millie:

Hawes AZSF (Arizona Spring Fling) Kickoff Ride

Here is the video for the kick off ride for the AZSF (Arizona Spring Fling)

We all met up at the Walgreens at the corner of Thomas and Power in Mesa about 5:00.

I don't ride Hawes all that often, but our 12.4 mile loop took us on a new (to me) trail know by the locals as TRW.

It was a really incredible sunset.





Here is the video of the 2.5 hour ride:




And here is an interactive Google Earth map of the area:



Hat tip to AZFreeskier for the GPS tracks and video soundtrack.

K Trail - Apache Junction, AZ

So freeskier46, mentioned that he was gonna head on over and ride K Trail in Apache Junction, so I decided to tag along. A few utter riders, RNC, Eda, Dave and Matt also showed up for a little tour of the trails.

During my 50 minute drive from Ahwatukee over to A.J. I heard the radio dood say that it was 39 degrees out. Luckily, it didn’t seem that cold, cuz I just had a long sleeve shirt and shorts on. I think by the time I got there at 8:30 it seemed have warmed up a bit. The clouds looked pretty cool, and I’m kicking myself for not getting a time lapse camera set up. Drat!

The plan was head out of the north end of the parking lot onto Lost Goldmine Trail, climb the little hill, then do a short descent and then at the left hand hair pin turn where the trail heads due north, we hoped over a few boarder rocks then jumped on a flat but worn trail that headed due south (no, I’m not gonna shorten this terrible run-on sentence). About 5 minutes of this trail, we tied into the jeep road that headed basically due east. From here, we pedaled for about 20 minutes as the jeep road head east, but also a little bit north towards the Superstoopid Mountains. And from here, we jumped back onto K-Trail, which some schweet-schweet single track. It basically takes you throw a bunch of twisty turns and washes. It generally heads south for a while and then curves to the west. It made so many twists and turns that I wasn’t exactly sure where we were going to end up, until we got there. The trail also crossed over the road several times, it is a tough to figure, but once we got done with ¾’s of the loop it started to make sense. Its not like I really don’t get lost or anything, cuz the natural landmarks are pretty easy to keep track of.

It had rained the day before our ride, and in the dirt spots, it was a tad bit mucky. It was kinda weird seeing dirt and mud in the desert. Despite the momentum killing mud, the trail was pretty easy to ride. I think our 10 mile loop only had about 1,000 feet of climbing, and easy climbing it was. We only climbed two or three small hills. We didn’t include Quartz Ridge, but there is actually a hill to climb there, I guess.

Despite the hammerfest XC feel of this trail, there are a few really, really choice gnar moments on it. Nice bolder rolls and big 5 foot drop (which opted for the non drop b-line on). I’d say this trail wasn’t made for big bikes, but fun could still be had there, but if you are a single speeder, you’d pretty much dig this trail.
The views really amazing. It is tough to beat having the majestic cliffs of the Superstoopid Mountains in the background. I don’t think I’ve ridden in a place with a higher concentration of saguaro cactus.

I think the six of us were out for about 4 hours, and who spend that much time riding a measly 10 miles??? Well, when you are having as much fun as we were session on stuff, the you’d understand.
My only problem was that I messed up my Jump Stop chainguide when I bobbled on some techiness, and I wasn’t able to get it set properly. So for half the ride my chain would fall off. Drat!

Here is a MTBR link for further discussion about this trail.

Here is a vid of the day:


And here is an interactive Google Earth map of the area:

Bug Spring & La Milagrosa (Tuscon, AZ)

Hide your women and children as on of those evil Bandolero's escaped from New Mexico to ride some AZ gnar.

At 8:30, I met up with RCC Le Buzz (the base of the Coronado Forest/Catalina Mountains), and from there his wife shuttled us up to the top of Bug Spring Trail. But first, we left my car at the bottom of La Milagrosa trail (Off of Snyder Rd - Corner of De Suzenu/Horsehead Rd.)

Hmmm, things didn't start off so well, cuz I accidentally had RCC's wife drop us off at the wrong lot, 1/4 mile below the actually trailhead, and then within two pedal strokes of pedaling up the trail, I snapped my chain. Double Drat!

RCC dropped a quicklink on my chain, and while we were dealing with this little mechanical, Sundog of Tuscon rolled up with some utter Tucson doods and to escort some utter riders from IMBA down Bug Spring. RCC and I tagged along with this group for, but split from them at the bottom of Bug's.

La Milagrosa did not disappoint Gnar was slayed, and 6.5 hours later we peeled ourselves off the trail. Should it really take that long to do 14.5 mile shuttle ride? Well yeah, when it has some sessioning, and 2,000 feet of climbing (total down was about 5,200 vf).

Here is a little video of the day:





And here is an interactive Google Earth Tour of our route:

Quadruple Bypass - McDowell Mountains

Okay, allow me to start this ride review with a couple of apologizes.

1) Thank you everybody for allow me shove a my camera in your face. Your patience is much appreciated.
2) I didn't have bad gas yestaday, but rather that ripping sound was my tire buzzing on my front derailleur every time I my suspension compressed.:madman: Very annoying, I know. I need to figure out some sort of mod so my 650B wheels don't do this.

This was my fourth Quadruple Bypass in 5 year history of this social ride, and here is the MTBR thread.

Anycow, it was a great day out on the trail. And the clowns at the back of the bus had a great sufferfest. I've done a few of these, not to get all dorky on the scene here, but the encouragement of finishing is equally given as it is received. Well played to the 6 person trail sweeper team.

Big thanks to WaltAZ and CoyoteKis for the support at the beginning, middle and end. That was freaking ahsum, and thanks for waiting for our sorry a$$e$ to finish. Walt, you need to stop making excuse for not riding Quadruple Bypass, and CoyoteKis you will not be called 'Diesel' until you get back on your bike.

Utter than my tire on derailleur issues and one Tom29 having a case of the flats, us slow pokes really had no mechanical issues. Suhweet!:thumbsup:

Sure there many, many harder rides than this, but for a chump like myself, it is a pretty big challenge. To be honest, I felt pretty good all day; way better than last years edition. Shoot, I drank less than 150 OZ of water, only a 1.5 qts of gatorade, on snickers, two goo's and an apple. I had a nice burrito in pack, but didn't bother eating it (I need to go out to my car and grab it before some serious ickiness happens).

Great weather too, although I had my lungs from all the crap in the air. I had some pretty painful coughing fits after the ride.


Those two doods from Colorado just made us look silly finishing the ride in sumpin like 4:40, and big ups to the riders who did the Gnardruple. The Gnardruple doods started at the same time as everybody else, but caught up the stragglers at Bell Pass. And then there is Chollaball, the only dood that I know of that has ridden each 'Annual Quadruple Bypass Ride' who started half hour later than everybody else and caught up to us at Bell Pass. Guts awards to you all.
I know, I know the song is kinda of a trite anthem, but it seemed to touch on the emotional feel of the ride for me, at least.

Here's a vid of the day:



And here is an interactive Google Earth tour:



Here a some write ups of some my past Quadruple Bypass Rides

SoMo Perimeter Ride (South Mountain Trails - Phoenix)

I did a major beatdown ride and the goal was to stick to the perimeter of South Mountain. I had a major problem in that I just didn't see a logical route from the central norther edge of the park to the northeastern corner of the park, where I started.

Here's the criteria I approached the ride:
6. Learn some new trails.
5. Big miles.
4. Get some good climbing in.
3. Avoid the gnar, cuz I was on my XC bike.
2. Stick to trails on the perimeter of the park.
1. Make it fun.


I met up with a dood from MTBR at 9:00, and he wanted to get some Desert Classic miles in and so starting at Pima Canyon was the natural spot to start my adventure-epic.

The dood I was with decided to turn around at the watertank on Desert Classic, so I pedaled on, and on I did.

I actually took 'secret trail' and tied back into Desert Classic. From there I did the hike-a-bike up Telegraph Pass and then more hike-a-bike up National. Actually, I pedaled up more of this section of National than I have ever before. Suhweet. Then I ripped down 620. I had only been down this trail once before on my big bike, I and wasn't all that impressed, but I kinda dug it this time. My goal of cleaning all the swithchbacks on 620 came to an end on the last tricky one; the one with a quick left turn followed immediately by a sharp right turn with a step. Drat. Anycow, I had an audience, but I still should have been a 'get'.

Now it was time to pick my way over to Bees Knees trail for another kinda hard climb. It was only about 600 vf, but it still sorta hurts. This trail gets a bad wrap as being a waste of effort and trail, but I really had a good time ripping down this trail. I've done both directions, and can easily say heading west on Bee Knees is the way to go. Dare I say the flow on Bees Knees trail is some of the best South Mountain has to offer. Twisty and swooping is the way I like it.

At the bottom, I skipped the Gila trail connector to National and opted for the short jeep road (with a hump over a small hill), easy but nothing to remarkable. I jumped on National but stopped at San Juan Rd. for a peanut butter jelly sammich, then it was on to the end of National.

At the end of San Juan Rd. I jumped on a trail that wasn't named, but directed towards 35th Ave. I had been on it before and this was my route back along the northern edge of the park boundary. My only concern about this trail was that the only I had been on it, we exited on 35th Ave, but I wanted to continue. This was a none issue, because as the trail Y'd, I took the high road and that turned into a jeep road. I had a low pass to get over, and this spit me out into a residential neighborhood on 28th Ave. I pedaled about a half mile of streets and ended up on Elliot. At the end of Elliot (near 25th Ave) I bypassed a couple barriers and ended up on single track again. This half mile single track took me to 19th Ave (South Mountain Access Area).

There I jumped on the first trail I saw that would head east over the ridge, and that happened to be Ma-Ha-Tauk trail, this was a little bit more of a climb than I wanted. It was terrible, and once I got up on top I the other lower option that would've spit me out at 'The Big Ramada'. I zoomed down the ridge back into familiar territory, as the Central Ave (inside the park) was visible.

I took a left on Max Delta for a quick jog to the road. Once I got to the road I headed up the the 'Little Ramada' where the Kiwanis trailhead was located. The thought had crossed my mind that could've done the hike-a-bike up Holbert, but I figured that at this point I was gonna be in survival mode, and knowing the road wasn't far away was comforting.

I know I'm capable of riding more of Kiwanis than I did, but I was starting to fatigue, and taking a stupid hard fall at the point was unnecessary.

I got up to the road, and now it was time for an easy spin on up to Beuna Vista, and at that point I knew I had enough in the take to take the longer wide way down, by going down National to Mormon Loop to Javelina to East Loop. Thus expanding the radius of my route.

National rawked as it always does, and everything else went as planned. I thought I was outta water when I was coming up the road, but somehow I managed a few more precious ounce on Javelina. And on total I had one apple, one PBJ sammich, and one liter of gatorade, and 100 ounces of water. Not bad for 8 hours out on the trail.

I climbed off of East Loop right at 5:00, and felt pretty dang good.

Sure doing this 33 miles with about 5,300 vf of climbing could've been done faster, but I wasn't sure how this loop was gonna work out, so I moved slowely in order keep something in the tank. The hike-a-bike also really speed the clock up too.


I didn't shoot any video, and I only took two pics, but here is a Google Earth Tour of my approximate route:





Here's an interactive Google Earth Tour of my route:

New Years Day Freak Show Ride - National (South Mountain)

Chongoman organized a little ride up to the waterfall on National today to celebrate New Years Day. And in fitting course, we dawned our craziest duds. I rolled the ride in lederhosen. Guts award goes to Robert who ascended national with his duel crowned Turner in knee high boots with 5 inch heels.

Here's a little vid of the day:

The Bear ( El Oso Rd.)

I was in need of little fitness ride, and I wanted to do a little exploring in the Mazatzal Mountains. I was also inspired by a ride Maadjurguer did last spring. My goal one day, is to pedal from the traverse the Mazatzal's from the Beeline Highway to Roosevelt Lake (Bee to the Bear and Back).

I believe there are a few trails open to bicycles in the area (outside the wilderness), but I'm not sure what the condition these trails are in. Here's a link to the trails that are open to mountain bikes in the Tonto Basin. If I get some beta that these trails are in rideable condition (not overgrown), then maybe I'll check 'em out.


The Bottom of El Oso Rd - Highway 188:
Roosevelt Lake in the background:


Anycow, I started my pedal up El Oso Rd. here, at 8:30, and ended up at the Lone Pine Trailhead around 12:00. It really shouldn't take this long to get up to this turnaround point, but I took my time once I got up on top of the ridge. I was also pedaling my heavy bike today, which was also unnecessary, but its all I had available. Plus I had the idea that there was gonna be some chunk on this road. BTW, the armor I packed up to the top did serve a purpose; it kept me warm on the rip back down the hill.



I'd say temps were in the upper 40's to low 50's when I started my ride at the 2,200 foot level. I was pedaling in shorts and just a long sleeve shirt, but I certainly wasn't cold on the pedal up. Once I got up on top of the ridge, about 3,500 vf higher in elevation, the temps were probably about the same as when I started(Lone Pine T.H. sits at nearly 5,700 vf).

Sitting on top of the ridge:

obelisk top of the ridge (near the radio tower):


El Oso Rd. (the bear), had absolutely no gnar on it. It was probably smoother than half the roads in Mesa. It did have an occasional water rut/bar. The biggest obstacle of this road, was the steep, steep grade. Even this wasn't as bad, as I had expected. Every single inch of this route, I could pedal. I had been looking at this road on Google Earth and did a few searches, and I thought it was gonna be chunky and to steep to pedal in some sections. Boy, was I wrong.

Once I got up on top of the ridge I turned onto onto Pigeon Spring Rd and decided to check out the Pigeon Spring and Loan Pine Trail-heads. This 2 or 3 mile traverse across the ridge had a few sections of ups and downs, so there is some elevation change. Pretty nice views though.

The rip back down El Oso was a hoot. It took me 45 minutes to get to the bottom from Lone Pine T.H., but most of that time was spent traveling across the ridge back to El Oso road, and fixing a flat tire. This was the first flat I've had in prolly 2 years; time for some new tires. From the top of the ridge to the bottom (about 8 miles) in reality only took about 25 minutes.

The big rotors on my 'barcalounger' were kinda nice to have, as I flew down the mountain. Even though the gravel road was in excellent condition, it wasn't totally brainless riding. It was fast, and slipping on the crushed granite/cinder was keeping me tame. At the curves of the road, the inside edge had a really nice berm to roll through.

Not the most inspiring ride, but the speed rawked, the views were of the lake and surrounding peaks ruled, and it was all new to me. I'm looking forward to rolling this again.




Here is a short and dorky little vid:



Here's an interactive Google Earth Tour: